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Rhenquist was a good american and a good judge. This was not unexpected, but if you view any of the left wing blogs right now it will be very amusing to see them go totally insane.

They have really lost it.

My early hope is that Bush appoints Thomas as Chief Justice and puts up a conservative, woman for the other post.

(lets let the Democrats go against women and minorities as much as possible).

Janice Rogers Brown? I would love to see the democrats forced to "keep down" the first African-American female SCOTUS nominee!

While from the other side of the Big Ditch, I've admired the way he presided as Chief Justice and he was far more consistent than most in his rulings and always dignified and temperate.  The most you can ask for in a justice with whom you disagree on some fundamental issues.

He respected and honored the Court and served it well.  May he rest in peace.

Janice Rogers or Edit Brown Clement.  Either would put the libs in a tough spot.  However look at how the media and others talk about Powell and Rice with slurs that a republican could never get away with but when used by the left they are "OK".

I think it would be the ultimate irony for Rehnquist, a man who argued for the reaffirmation of Plessy v. Ferguson, to be replaced by a black woman.

Overall the Rehnquist court has been pretty terrible on federalism.

Lopez was an irrelevant decision that has had very little impact. We still have a federal Guns-Free Schools Zone Act, and Lopez only effect was to make legislators more careful about drafting interstate trade rationalities into laws.

If Lopez would have been a "watershed" decision, then it could have been used in the defense of Raich, but it wasn't. Raich went down.

I just don't see how Rehnquist was that important to Republicans or the ideas of limited government. His court certainly wasn't, and there are thousands of others waiting in the wings that could have had the same effect.

Instead earlier this week somebody far more important to Republicans died, but nobody seemed to notice. Without this other person, the Reagan Revolution probably wouldn't have happened the way it did, and Repubs would still be in the wilderness.

Joy Clement was the runner up when Robert was selected.  She is a good contender...but not as sure to be on our side as Roberts.  Elevating Roberts, or nominating Janice Brown, Mike Luttig, Edith Jones or Garza would be good solid conservative picks to fill the big shoes that the chief left.

Re-post from another thread:

There are two sensible strategies here.

The first is to maintain the Roberts nomination for Associate Justice and nominate J. Michael Luttig for Chief.  Luttig is around the same age as Roberts, also well-respected for his intellect, and is a proven originalist.  The guy makes it known to clerks that they will be given a pink slip if they refuse to speak up when they see judicial activism slipping in to his opinions.  He's a true originalist that could not be construed as a "conservative activist" the way Jones or Rogers Brown could.

Why Luttig?  Because the other conservatives on the most recent short list were far too explosive.  And Bush has very little political capital left at this point.  Rogers Brown and Owen and Jones all have writings that would yield great DNC attack ads.  Democrats, embarrassed about the Gang of 14 deal, will try to bork the first two and Jones, while probably the most confirmable of the three, is still older and more difficult to confirm than Luttig, who would be just as effective on SCOTUS.  A Luttig/Roberts combo would be acceptable to at least 60 senators, which means that both would be confirmed.

The alternative strategy is to pull the Roberts nomination for Associate Justice, re-nominate him for Chief Justice, and nominate Edith Joy Clement for Associate.  This would definitely serve a symbolic purpose due to the horrible events of the past week in Louisiana, and it would also create a dual selection that would be amenable to 60 or more senators while still guaranteeing a more conservative Court.  Roberts and Clement are both understood to be mainstream conservatives who will interpret the law, not make it.  I imagine that Roberts will probably fall similar to Rehnquist in his decisions, while Joy would probably be somewhere between a Rehnquist and an O'Connor.  But that's more of a hunch than anything.

The biggest downside to the Roberts/Clement duo is that it will only shift the Court marginally to the right.  With a Luttig/Roberts combo replacing Renny/O'Connor, both replacements are more conservative than both predecessors.  With Roberts/Clement replacing Renny/O'Connor, only one replacement is more conservative than her predecessor.  Still a step in the right direction, but Luttig/Roberts is probably a better pick and is likely confirmable.

So, to sum up, Bush should appoint either Luttig or Clement along with Roberts to fill the dual vacancies, with either Luttig or Roberts as Chief.

that would shut up Kayle West too faster than NBC could pull their live feed....

I agree with Dave's conclusion, but not his second analogy.  Dubya is indeed running out of political capital, but I don't see how appointing one of Lousiana's elites to the SC makes Hurricane victims feel all the much better?

What symbolism?  People's homes are gone.  Their materials needs supercede their symbolic ones at this point.

But yes, Roberts/Luttig(CJ) is better than Roberts (CJ)/Clement.